With David Sanders Jr. back to full health, Tennessee football had a decision to make on the offensive line. The Vols could either stick with the unit with Jesse Perry at right tackle or they could shake things up in an attempt to get Sanders in the mix.
The decision was to go with the same starters to begin the game, but to rotate in Sanders for Perry throughout the 34-31 win over Arkansas. Ultimately, Perry played 45 snaps and Sanders played 22 at the position.
PFF gave its grades for both players after the game. While PFF grades certainly aren’t the final word in how a player performed, they can still be an indicator of the level of play in a certain game or throughout a season. In the case of Sanders, he was given a 50.2 grade for his showing. This was the second-worst mark on the offense out of 19 players. Perry got a 66.9 grade, the sixth-best on that side of the ball.
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Looking deeper at the numbers, Sanders did outperform Perry in pass blocking. PFF graded Sanders at a strong 79.2 while Perry came up with a serviceable 65.3 mark. Perry topped Sanders in run blocking, though. He registered a 71.9 grade in that category while Sanders sat at a 42.
As far as penalties, Perry was whistled for a false start in the first half, while Sanders was never penalized.
Neither lineman allowed a sack in the game, with quarterback Joey Aguilar staying clean for the duration of the matchup. However, Perry did allow one hurry while Sanders didn’t.
With Tennessee playing Alabama next week, it remains to be seen if Josh Heupel intends to keep rotating the pair or if he wants to pick one before the big matchup in Tuscaloosa. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET and will air on ABC.
